According to local interpretation the name Bhandara is a corruption of Bhanara. Reference to Bhanara is found in an inscription of 1100 A.D.traced at Ratanpur. The district was under regency administration from1818 to 1830. Prior to 1820, the district was administered from Lanji,thereafter the headquarters of the district were shifted from Lanji toBhandara in 1820-21. The area became British Territory in 1853. In 1881 there were only two tahsils viz., Tirora and Sakoli in the district. There were no major changes in the boundaries of the district or its talukas between 1911 and 1955 exceptthat the headquarters of Tirora tahsil were shifted to Gondiya and name of the tahsil was changed to Gondiya tahsil in 1914.From 1947 to 1956 the district of Bhandara along with the other districts of Vidarbha region continued to form a part of the central provinces. With the reorganization of states in 1956, Bhandara district was transferred from Madhya Pradesh to the Bombay State, which came into existence in the same year. In 1960,with the formation of the state of Maharashtra it formed a part of the newly created State.
